Mind Gem
The Mind Gem, also known as the Mind Stone, is one of the six Infinity Gems. A relic that contains and governs all of the mental power present in the universe, the Mind Gem is a great artifact capable of augmenting mental characteristics, though is most likely to overwhelm the minds of whoever touches it. It was the source of the Chitauri's intelligence until the gem came into Thanos's possession. History Creation Long ago, there existed a pre-creation God that embodied several aspects of the universe. As time passed, this being became lonely, until it reached a point that it could no longer bear eternity and committed suicide. Its death was violent, producing a tremendous explosion of the separate aspects it represented. One of these aspects was Mind: the representation of all conciousness and intelligence present in the universe. Eventually, this aspect as well as the others were discovered by the Elders of the Universe, and were gathered and forged into concentrated ingots. The one that contained the conciousness of the universe became the Mind Gem. Uniquely, the Mind Gem has an intelligence of its own, almost at a sentient level, as it is basically the representation of the universe's subconciousness. The Mind Stone Over time, the Mind Gem and the other Gems were altered into their present form. The Mind Gem, which was formerly a smooth blue oval gem, became a rock glowing with a yellow light, and was remembered as the Mind Stone. Creation of the Chitauri Long ago, the Mind Stone was found by a Celestial, Tiamut the Dreamer, and was used to alter the Chitauri, an alien race which became a collective intelligence. The Mind Stone became the center of the Chitauri's intelligence, being their source of conciousness and thinking ability, enabling anyone who possessed it full and complete control over the species. Infinity Crusade When Odin became aware of the Infinity Stones, he desired their power for his own gain. After acquiring the Space and Power Stones, he sought out the Mind Stone, planning on using it to quicken the pace of collecting the other stones by using it to grant him the knowledge of the location of the other stones. Odin did not have to look far: the Celestials became aware of Eson the Searcher's demise at the hand of Odin, and though they feared his immense power, they would not simply stand back and watch him claim their universe. To this end, Tiamut the Dreamer, the wielder of the Mind Stone, refused to wait for Odin to kill him and claim his stone; he sought out the King of Asgard, desiring to take the fight to him and end his crusade. Tiamut surprised Odin and his army, as the Celestial use the stone to find out where he would be. Confronting the host of Asgard in space, the Celestial turned half of Odin's army against the other as a display of his power, trying to intimidate Odin into surrendering while fully intending to kill him. Having no fear, only agitation, Odin stood against the Celestial and blasted him with energy using the Power Stone. Despite Tiamut's colossal armor, he was harmed by the Power Stone's energy though shrugged it off and used the Mind Stone to cause Odin confusion while also turning the rest of Asgard's army to his side, directing the whole force to charge on Odin at once. Odin shook off the confusion and used the Space Stone to send a huge discharge of power from the Power Stone across space, incinerating his entire army without remorse while also dealing more damage to the Celestial. At this time, Odin offered the Celestial his life if he willingly gave him the Mind Stone. Growing frustrated, the Celestial used the Mind Stone again in an attempt to dominate the Asgardian's mind and brainwash him. To his shock, Odin combined his natural Asgardian mental resiliency with the Odinforce, competing with the Mind Stone's energy and actually bringing Tiamut to the verge of terror. Fearing for once in its cosmic life, the Celestial accepted Odin's terms and begged for his life; however, Odin broke his word and instead simply used the Space Stone to teleport Tiamut's head across the universe, decapitating the Celestial and killing him. Odin used the Space Stone to locate Tiamut's head, retrieving the Mind Stone and placing it within the index knuckle slot of his Infinity Gauntlet. After leaving the Celestial behind, Odin became aware of the Chitauri army that Tiamut used the Mind Stone to create, though saw them as too savage and lowly for his purposes and simply abandoned them. He instead continued his crusade and used the Mind Stone to locate the Reality Stone in the form of the Aether, hidden away by his father Bor long ago. However, Odin was unable to use it again to find the Time Stone, as it had somehow evaded all knowledge within the universe. Seeing this impossible, Odin used other means to locate the Time Stone, and eventually acquired the remaining Infinity Stones to become the master of the universe. Abandoned by Odin Once Odin changed his tyranical ways to become a good ruler, he decided he would separate the Infinity Stones from themselves to prevent anyone else from doing what he did. With the Mind Stone, Odin relocated the Chitauri army he left behind before; deciding they were ferocious enough to keep it well-guarded while also being isolated enough that the chance of discovery of the stone was low, Odin returned the Mind Stone to the Chitauri, placing it in the center of their hive to act as their source of intelligence. Acquired by Thanos Eventually, the Chitauri were discovered by the Mad Titan Thanos, who was compelled to enter the center of their hive. Immediately becoming hostile and attacking him, the Chitauri engaged Thanos in a lengthy death battle which the Titan was able to survive. Thanos, proving to be strong and effective, cleared a path through the army and managed to penetrate the hive. Reaching its center, Thanos saw the Mind Stone and was challenged by the Other, who explained the stone was the center of the Chitauri's power and intelligence. Claiming that the Chitauri would defeat Thanos, the Other watched as the Titan merely shrugged off the threat and kept pushing through the alien defenders until he reached the stone. Grabbing the Mind Stone and ripping it from its pedistal, Thanos became empowered by its tremendous mental energy and experienced a vision which gave him knowledge and understanding of the stone's origin and power, as well as knowledge on the other Infinity Stones. Awakening from his brief vision, Thanos intimidated the Other and the Chitauri, who recognized his power since he was able to safely handle and wield the stone. Offering to destroy the Mind Stone to give the Chitauri a quick death, Thanos was met with a violent retaliation, instead using the stone to instantly dominate the Chitauri minds and bend the army to his will. Having successfully conquered the army, Thanos kept the Mind Stone in his possession, using its powers to further his ends of acquiring the other Infinity Stones. He constructed a stafflike weapon, the Chitauri Scepter, to house the stone. Description The Mind Gem was originally smooth and shaped like an oval, only 2 inches long from top to bottom. It was colored blue, and all the powers and energies associated with its use were also colored blue. Over time, the Mind Gem was transformed into its current form, known as the Mind Stone. It changed into something more like a rock, and became yellow in color. As time passed, one of its former users decided to shape it back into an oval shape, and made it relatively smooth, though it was still a bit rough like a rock. Containment Device The Scepter is the name given to the instrument used to house the Mind Stone. It was built by Thanos to harness the stone's power as well as to keep it hidden from those that would try to take it from him. Powers/Abilities The Mind Stone embodies the universal aspect of Intelligence and mental power. It can be seen as a sort of dial, a control unit for any and all of the power and energy present within the minds of the universe; as such, it provides its wielder access to all of the energy and power present in the minds of anyone to infinite levels. This can be applied in a number of different ways. Mental Augmentation At its most basic level, the Mind Stone grants significant boosts to mental capabilities. *Super Intelligence: The Mind Stone makes its wielder incredibly smarter, to the point that they are able to out-think others and come up with ideas and mental images more complex than they typically should. It can increase this to potentially infinite levels, enabling the wielder of the Mind Stone to be more intelligent than any other mind in the entire universe. *Super Memorization: The Mind Stone gifts its wielder with vast storage space of mental information. It has the potential to increase memory to infinite levels, granting the user the ability to remember all things they come across. *Super Concentration: The Mind Stone grants unprecidented concentration power, enabling the user to focus on a huge multitude of events simultaneously. In addition, the user's focus can remain virtually unbroken from any distractions no matter the source. *Super Perception: The Mind Stone enhances the user's perception, enabling them to notice just about every detail there is to know about what they witness from any of their senses. Mind Defense The Mind Stone shields the user from mental intrusion, protecting them from a variety of psychic powers. *Telepathic Shielding: The Mind Stone protects its user from penetrative mind powers, such as mind-reading or the projection of another's thoughts to the wielder's mind. *Illusion Detection: For any illusion based on tricking the mind or the senses, the Mind Stone provides the wielder the ability to see right through them and discern what is real and what is not. *Confusion Immunity: Due to the Mind Stone's gifts of increased intelligence, concentration, and perception, the user is virtually incapable of being confused or distracted. *Mind Shielding: The Mind Stone defends its user from direct mental attacks such as mental attacks to induce pain or possession. Intelligence Manipulation The Mind Stone has the ability to affect and alter intelligence on a grand scale. *Increase Intelligence: The Mind Stone allows its user to bestow intelligence upon other beings, dumb or smart, even if they do not have a mind. *Decrease Intelligence: The Mind Stone can take away the intelligence of others, allowing the user to depower incredibly smart beings and make them stupid or to take away any mental capacity whatsoever. Illusion The Mind Stone has various powers of illusions to trick the minds of others. *Illusion Creation: The Mind Stone can create complex illusions to trick an enemy, either through the senses or directly placing the illusion within their mind. These illusions can be quite powerful depending on how much energy the stone uses. *Illusion Manipulation: The Mind Stone can manipulate and/or alter pre-existing mental illusions to suit the user's needs. *Illusion Dismissal: The Mind Stone can easily dismiss any mental illusion, causing the mental trick to cease functioning or go away. Telepathy The Mind Stone can tap into the minds of others for various uses. *Mind Reading: The user of the Mind Stone can look into the minds of others and become aware of what they are thinking or imagining. It is capable of penetrating mental defenses as well, such as from powerful psychics. *Mental Communication: The user of the Mind Stine can also project their own thoughts into the minds of others, essentially the reverse of mind reading. This power can also penetrate mental defenses given sufficient concentration. *Thought Transfer: The Mind Stone can open the minds of others to the user and establish a connection, enabling a continuous, free transfer of thoughts openly from one to the other. This link can also be established in others not including the wielder of the stone, and likewise has the ability to penetrate mental defenses. Telekinesis The Mind Stone can project the user's mental power into the physical world. *Object Movement: The owner of the Mind Stone can mentally concentrate on physical objects or beings and move them with the power of their will, without actually touching them. This can be used in a variety of ways, including pushing, pulling, lifting, lowering, and turning. This power can be used on incredibly tiny or immensely huge objects, no matter their mass or weight, based solely on the power of the Mind Stone. *Object Holding: The user of the Mind Stone can also use their mental energy to cease all motion of a physically moving object or being without touching them. This can be applied in the same manner as moving objects, no matter how heavy or large/small. Mind Control The Mind Stone holds great power over the minds of others, and is capable of asserting its dominance over them. *Mental Influence: The Mind Stone is capable of subtly directing the actions of other beings by placing suggestions and thoughts into their minds, getting them to operate under the will of the user of the Mind Stone. *Mind Dominion: The Mind Stone can take direct control over the minds of others, forcing the target to obey the user's commands and wishes, even if they would be in opposition to the target's normal desires. *Mind Reprogramming: The Mind Stone is capable of overwriting the mental processes within any mind, causing it to function according to the user's desires. The mental rewrite has a lasting effect, allowing the Mind Stone user to focus on something else and still have a servant. Astral Projection The Mind Stone grants the user the ability to separate their conciousness from their physical form. *Mental Projection: The Mind Stone allows the user to cast forth their conciousness from their body, enabling them to defy the physical constraints of the universe and exist on the astral plain. As their conciousness is pure mind power, it can transition physical surfaces, has no vulnerabilities from physical attacks, no physical requirements, and can travel a tremendous distance so long as the user concentrates. *Astral Manipulation: The Mind Stone bestows its owner the ability to affect and control things on the astral plain, offering protection from psychic attacks or threats, control over mental beings, and direct influence over mental forces. *Possession: The Mind Stone enables its user to transfer their conciousness from their own body into that of another. When taking control of another body, the target's mind can either be allowed to remain, put to sleep, shunted aside, or cast out of the body altogether. Sleep Manipulation The Mind Stone can affect the minds of others even while the target is inactive or dormant. *Sleep Inducement: The user of the Mind Stone can put others to sleep for a designated time period or until they choose to wake them back up. *Dream Bestowal: The user of the Mind Stone can create dreams of any form and place them within the minds of others, essentially like thought projection while they are asleep. This can be used to grant good dreams or unleash horrendous nightmares. *Dream Manipulation: The user of the Mind Stone can alter the current dream of one that is asleep, changing it to suit their desires. They can affect the dream to change it into a nightmare, or change a nightmare into a good dream. *Dream Removal: The user of the Mind Stone can withdraw any dreams the target is having, inducing them in a mentally comatose state until they're allowed to have dreams again or awaken. *Awakening: The user of the Mind Stone can awaken any mind that is currently asleep, whether they were dreaming or not. This can be used on those either casually sleeping, induced into sleep, or forced into an extensive comatose state. Empathy The Mind Stone has power over the emotions of others. *Empathic Detection: The Mind Stone can sense the emotions of other beings, enabling them to see what sort of mental state they are in and act accordingly. *Empathic Projection: The Mind Stone can project a particular emotion into the minds of others, influencing them to feel that emotion and act based on that emotion. As such, the Mind Stone can induce happiness, sorrow, depression, rage, fear, boredom, ecstacy, love, compassion, and greed. *Empathic Extraction: The Mind Stone can withdraw any emotion from the minds of others, removing that particular emotion from their mental state. This can be applied to taking all emotion away, turning the target into an entirely emotionless being. Side-effect Once the Mind Gem became the Mind Stone, it seemingly lost its controlled quality and became highly unstable. Therefore, anyone that attempts to access its power suffers the risk of being overwhelmed and obliterated by this power. The mind of one too weak to wield the stone would be swept away by the tremendous mental energy flowing through them, causing their mind to "short out" and cease to function. When its user is killed, the stone is temporarily "left open," allowing its immense psionic energy to be released into the area around it and potentially rewriting or wiping clean the minds of others nearby. Lesser beings, such as humans, would be quickly killed and braindead by this power, simultaneously releasing a series of psychic waves in all directions before finally collapsing, their conciousness completely erased. However, it is possible to avert this effect if one uses a containment device, such as the Scepter, to safely handle the stone. The Scepter has no triggering mechanism, operating purely on the mental command of the user while safeguarding them from the raw mental energy contained in the stone. Summary Overall, the Mind Stone is the manifestation of the universe's subconciousness, governing over all intelligence and minds within. Whoever can wield the power of the Mind Stone has absolute authority and command over anything with any sort of intelligence or mental strength. Gallery Infinity Gems 07.png|The Mind Gem in its original form Infinity Stones 15.png|The Mind Stone with its original color Trivia